Christopher Columbus Statue Beheaded In Boston; Another Toppled & Torched In Richmond

Here we go again — another round in which a mob of mostly white Antifa young people take it upon themselves to “purge” any and all historical statues and monuments they deem “offensive” to their extremist ideology.

The Hill reports Wednesday morning: “Statues of Christopher Columbus were targeted by protesters in Massachusetts and Virginia on Tuesday night in an act of solidarity with indigenous peoples.” 

Local media reports that not only was an eight-foot monument to the first European explorer who discovered the Americas starting with his famous 1492 voyage toppled with ropes, but it was also lit on fire and dragged about 200 yards to a nearby lake.

#BlackLivesMatters protesters tore down a Christopher Columbus statue, set it on fire, then dumped it in a lake in Richmond, Virginia on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/VQlSZ2jrSn

— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) June 10, 2020

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It had been erected in 1927 and is considered to have been the first major Columbus memorial in the South.

Like other statues in D.C. and even Britain of the past days — where Churchill was defaced near parliament, and oddly enough even an Abraham Lincoln monument (we’re still scratching our heads at that one), the protesters and vandals covered the Columbus statue in graffiti declaring he was a “racist” while expressing “solidarity” with native Americans amid the broader George Floyd protests of the last weeks.

Local media has noted many in the group held signs which read “This land is Powhatan land” and “Columbus represents genocide.”

Some 1,000 demonstrators had descended on the park where the memorial was centrally located, but the police were nowhere in sight, with a police statement only saying they were “aware” of the events. 

Meanwhile, CBS Boston reports that in Boston overnight a Columbus statue was beheaded at a park bearing the explorer’s name:

A Christopher Columbus statue in Boston was beheaded overnight.

The statue in Christopher Columbus Park on Atlantic Avenue in the North End was surrounded by crime scene tape early Wednesday morning as the head lay on the ground.

Boston police are seeking information from the public. In this case the act of destruction wasn’t as “public” as the Richmond case, but apparently done quickly under the cover of darkness. 

One photo showed the American flag in the background just above the beheaded statue:

#BREAKING: overnight Christopher Columbus statue in Boston’s North End vandalized, found beheaded. 📸⁦@pictureboston⁩ pic.twitter.com/EV7OEvGaNE

— NBC10 Boston (@NBC10Boston) June 10, 2020

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As we posed yesterday, how long till even the Washington monument or Jefferson Memorial are targeted? Will even Monticello be taken apart brick by brick? 

Certainly those now defacing buildings and monuments amid the protests of the past two weeks will not stop advocating simply for the erasure and “purging” of all American history. 

This will no doubt result in backlash, given ‘middle America’ is watching closely, likely fearful of the coming radicalism, as captured in this recent American Conservative piece: “Meanwhile, the disaffected merely bided their time, silently waiting for their opportunity to express themselves in the quiet sanctity of the voting booth.”

It continues, speaking of the “shock” of the 2016 election, which may be repeated in similar fashion: “After they did, Donald Trump was the next president. Hardly anyone saw it coming.”